NCAA
Hockey Rules and Your Journey to College Hockey

It
seems like every day in the news we are hearing about another NCAA
coach who is in hot water regarding NCAA violations. More often, we hear
about these violations in sports such as football and basketball and it
is almost always regarding recruiting.

The NCAA has specific hockey rules that will affect your journey to college hockey.

In this section you will find the NCAA rules that directly apply to
you while your son or daughter is playing hockey and being recruited by
NCAA hockey programs.

So, what exactly are the hockey rules? And how does it affect my son or daughter in the sport of hockey?

One of the lessons that is often learned too late is that academic
performance as early as grade 9 will affect your eligibility. In high
school you must complete 16 NCAA core courses
and write the SAT and/or ACT. The score you need to be certified depends
on your GPA in the core courses. The relationship between your GPA and
test score is determined by a sliding scale.

The other area that might affect your son or daughter before they are seriously considering an NCAA hockey opportunity is their amateur status.

This becomes very important when deciding to sign with an agent or attend a Major Junior camp.

There is also NCAA legislation that will affect you during the
recruiting process. For the most part, recruiting rules are stricter for
Division 1 hockey schools than for Division III programs.

The NCAA has a rules manual that is over 200 pages long and it covers
everything from recruiting to eligibility for all sports. There are
many similarities between Division I and III, but also some very
important differences.

NCAA rules for hockey are vast and in some cases are different than
other sports. This page is our attempt to take away the confusion and
give you the rules you need to know.